《经济学人》指责英国政府“不作为”（下）

作者：Alice的学习笔记

In retrospect, the government should have probed the scientists’ advice more deeply. Some of it was questionable. The received wisdom that people would tire of social distancing, and that shutting down early would mean loosening early too, was just a hunch. Even after the evidence changed, and it became clear the country was heading for catastrophe, the government was slow to impose the sort of lockdown seen across Europe.

回想起来，政府本应该更深层次探究科学家们的建议。一些建议其实是有问题的。比如大家普遍认为的：人们会疲于保持社交距离，以及早封锁意味着早松懈等等，只是一种直觉而已。甚至在情境变化之后，显而易见地国家正在走向灾难，政府才慢悠悠地强制实施了欧洲各国中的活动限制。

• in retrospect
  回顾，回响，追溯往事。
     The decision seems extremely odd, in retrospect.
     回想起来，这个决定显得极其荒谬。

• probe
  探究，调查，追问，类似于investigate。
     He didn't like the media probing into his past.
     他不愿意媒体追问他的过去。
     The Office of Fair Trading has been probing banking practices.
     公平贸易署一直在对银行业务进行调查。

• hunch
  1）作动词可表示弓背，耸肩

   2）作名词表示第六感，直觉，预感
      I had a hunch that Susan and I would work well together...
      我有预感和苏珊共事会很融洽。*

• received wisdom
  received表示被承认的，被一致认可的，英文解释为“generally accepted as true or worthy”。
  wisdom除了表示智慧，也可以表示观点，看法，理念等。比如：
        …… the conventional wisdom that soccer is a minor sport in America.
             足球在美国属于小众运动的传统观念。
  received wisdom则表示公认的看法，普遍的观点。
     The received wisdom is that he will retire within the next year.
     普遍认为他明年之内会退休。
     If you rely on the received wisdom, you might not ever come up with an original idea.
     如果你一直依赖大众的观点，就有可能永远没法提出自己的想法。

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Yet you do not need hindsight to identify other mistakes. Delays in fixing PPE supply chains, promoting face coverings and increasing testing capacity were clearly errors at the time. Despite the urging of the country’s scientists and the World Health Organisation, by the middle of April Britain was still carrying out just 12,000 tests a day, compared with 44,000 in Italy and 51,000 in Germany. Because most testing was reserved for hospitals, care homes struggled to find out which of their residents and staff were infected. Competition for PPE was fierce, so they also struggled to get the kit they needed to protect their workers.

然而发现其他问题并不需要事后的智慧。在修复个人保护设备供应链，敦促戴口罩以及增加疫情检测方面的延误在当时是显而易见的错误。即使有国家中的科学家和世界健康组织的敦促，到四月中旬为止，相比于意大利每天的4万4千次检测以及德国的5万1千次，英国仍然每天只进行1万2千次检测。由于大多数的检测都留给了医院，护理中心就很难检测到他们的居民和职员是否感染了。个人保护设备的竞争非常激烈，所以护理中心也在努力争取全套的用品来保护自己的工作人员。

• struggle to
  奋力，努力做……，英文解释为：to try extremely hard to achieve something, even though it is difficult.

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The government is not solely to blame. The pandemic made new demands on the system. Some crucial bits of machinery did not work. The publicly owned company which supplies the health service with PPE failed. Public Health England, which was responsible for testing and tracing, failed. But there was a failure of leadership, too. When systems break it is the government’s job to mend them; when the evidence argues for drastic measures ministers need to take them.

但是我们不单单要责备政府。这场流行病在系统中创造了新需求。一些国家机构的重要部分没有发挥作用；提供个人保护设备给健康服务的公有制企业倒闭了；负责检测和追踪的英格兰公共健康组织也没有做好自己的工作。而且在组织领导这件事上也失败了。当系统中断了，政府的工作室去修复它；当有证据表明激烈的措施是需要的，首相就应该要实施它。

• machinery
  可以指机器，机械，也可表示组织，机构，系统，体制等
     The company has no effective machinery for resolving disputes.
     公司没有解决争端的有效机制。

• argue for
  1）为……据理力争
     They argued for the right to strike.
     他们据理力争罢工的权利。
  2）支持，表明，主张
     Some environmentalists argue for a return to a pre-industrial society.
     一些环保主义者主张回归工业化以前的社会。

• drastic
  极端的，严厉的，剧烈的，英文解释为：Something that is drastic is violent, forceful, and extreme.
     drastic measures / changes
     严厉的措施/剧烈的变化

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Britain is still living with the consequences. The spread of the virus and the devastation it has wrought have made leaving lockdown difficult, as shown by the halting return of pupils to school. Only five year-groups have gone back, many parents are choosing to keep their children at home, and the government has abandoned an earlier ambition to get more in. The “world-beating” contact-tracing system still lacks its app, which is not due to arrive until winter. Slow progress at suppressing the virus will have grave economic consequences, too.

英国现在仍然深受影响。病毒的传播和它造成的破坏使得要摆脱现在的活动限制非常困难，比如孩子们断断续续的返校。目前只有5年级的学生返校，而许多的家长选择让自己的孩子呆在家里，并且政府也已经放弃了之前想要让更多孩子返校的决心。而英国所谓的“世界无敌的”接触追踪系统仍然没有对应的手机APP，并且预计冬天之前都不会有。抗击病毒的缓慢进程同样也会有重大的经济影响。

• devastation
  （尤指大面积的）毁坏，破坏，也可指（感情上的）重创
     She had a look of utter devastation on her face.
     她脸上露出一副受到沉重打击的样子。

• wrought
  wreak的过去式和过去分词。表示造成（巨大的破坏或伤害）。
     ……the devastation wrought by a decade of fighting.
     十年战事造成的严重破坏。
     The coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc on the global economy.
     冠状病毒的传播给全球经济造成了巨大的伤

• halting
  (讲话)结结巴巴地，（动作）迟疑不决的，断断续续的
     a halting voice
     一个迟疑的声音
     a halting conversation
     断断续续的谈话

• grave
  1）作名词可以表示坟墓，dig one's own grave表示自掘坟墓，自取灭亡
     The magazine isn't trying to ruin his career, but the man's digging his own grave by refusing an interview.
     这份杂志并非想断送他的事业，而他拒绝接受采访就是在自毁前程。
  2）作形容词表示严重的，严峻的
     The consequences will be very grave if nothing is done.
     如果不采取任何措施后果将会是非常严重的。

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These shortcomings have claimed many victims. Among them is public trust. Britain went into this crisis with a powerful sense of unity and goodwill towards the government. Now Britons think worse of their government’s performance during the crisis than do the citizens of any of 22 countries polled by YouGov, aside from Mexico. That reflects the government’s mistakes and its hypocrisy, after the prime minister’s main adviser broke its own rules about when to travel—and kept his job. While the world waits for a vaccine this lack of trust will make managing the disease a lot harder.

这些缺陷下有很多的牺牲品。其中一项就是公众的信任。英国在这场灾难的开端多政府有着强大的整体意识和善意。但是现在，根据YouGov的投票，在22个国家里，英国人民认为自己的政府是除了墨西哥外，在这场疫情中表现最差的。而在首相的首席顾问打破了它自己的有关于何时能够出行的规则，并且保住了自己的工作之后，也反映了政府的谬误和虚伪。而当世界在等待疫苗的时候，这种信任的缺失会使得抗击疫情变得更加困难。

• hypocrisy
  虚伪，伪善，我们说的伪君子叫“hypocrite”。
     He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do six thing and say another.
     他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。

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The painful conclusion is that Britain has the wrong sort of government for a pandemic—and, in Boris Johnson, the wrong sort of prime minister. Elected in December with the slogan of “Get Brexit Done”, he did not pay covid-19 enough attention. Ministers were chosen on ideological grounds; talented candidates with the wrong views were left out in the cold. Mr. Johnson got the top job because he is a brilliant campaigner and a charismatic entertainer with whom the Conservative Party fell in love. Beating the coronavirus calls for attention to detail, consistency and implementation, but they are not his forte.

结论就是英国政府在这场疫情中就是个错误，还有一个同样错误的首相，Boris Johnson。他在去年12月份当选，并且主张“落实脱欧”，使得他根本没有精力去管冠状病毒疫情。首相是根据观念形态选出来的；有才干的候选人如果有着错误的观点也会被冷落。Johnson能够得到这份顶尖的工作是因为他是一个很厉害的政治活动家，也是一个保守党喜欢的有魅力的表演家。抗击冠状病毒需要对细节的关注，持久性，以及具体实施，但是这些都不是Johnson的专长。

• ground
  可以表示理由，根据，类似于basis。英文解释为：If something is grounds for a feeling or action, it is a reason for it. If you do something on the grounds of a particular thing, that thing is the reason for your action.
     In the interview he gave some grounds for optimism……
     他接受采访时阐述了自己乐观态度的理由。
     Employers can't discriminate on grounds of age.
     雇主不得有年龄歧视。

• charismatic
  有魅力的，有感召力的

• forte
  专长，强项。
     Originality was never his forte.
     他从来不擅长独立创作。

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The pandemic has many lessons for the government, which the inevitable public inquiry will surely clarify. Here is one for voters: when choosing a person or party to vote for, do not underestimate the importance of ordinary, decent competence.

这场疫情给英国政府上了好多课，而这也是无法避免的公众质询所必然能够证明的。这里有一个给投票者们的建议：当要选一个人或政权投票的时候，不要低估了平常的、得体的竞争力的重要性。

• inquiry
  （官方的）调查，询问，打听
     He made some inquiries and discovered she had gone to the Continent……
     他打听了一番，发现她已经去了欧陆。

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